Frame for drying lace curtains



(No Model.) I

R. ORLETT. FRAME FOR NG LACE CURTAINS. Patented Mar. 16, 1897.

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ROBERT S. OORLETT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

FRAME FOR DRYING LACE CURTAINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 578,970, dated March16, 1897. Application filed July 6, 1896. Serial No. 598,111. (Nomodel.)

'To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT S. CORLETT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Frames for Drying LaceCurtains; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact descrip tion of the invention, which will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to frames for drying lace curtains; and theinvention consists in a frame having its bars formed with inclined slitsof such character that the walls of the slits alone serve to sustain allthe pull or draw on the pins with which the curtain is held in theframe, and in the construction and combination of parts substantially asshown and described,and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of one style offrame in which my invention is found and serving to illustrate theinvention in so far as the frame is concerned. Fig. 2 is an enlargedperspective cross-section of one of the bars, showing the slit filled inthis instance with some soft fabric and a pin therein as in use. Fig. 3is a perspective cross-section of a frame-bar with a strip of very lightcorrugated metal set into the slit edgewise and showing a pin held inthe slit, otherwise set the same as in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a section of the side bars of the frame,including a joint, and showing the means for locking the joint or hingeand making a rigid bar.

I am of course aware that I am not first and original in the use ofloose pins for fastening curtains to frames and that frames have beenmade with longitudinal recesses in their edges, having some soft fabricor the like into which the pins are engaged and which serve to take allthe strain or pull on the pins. I am also aware that bars have beencushioned on their sides with fabric and cushioning adapted to receivethe pins, but in all and any such inventions which have come to mynotice the material into which the pin is stuck to fasten the curtainhas to take all the pull on the pin, and it must be of such strength andquality as will withstand such pull and endure in a serviceablecondition from year to year. This necessarily makes such framesexpensive, and they are also of questionable value for long endurance.My invention therefore is designed to overcome these obvious objectionsto the old styles of frame and to produce a frame which cannot be wornout and which has all the advantages of use with pins that the best ofother frames may possess.

To these ends I provide a frame with. side bars A and end bars B, eitherin the form here shown or any other desirable form, the style of theframe not being material to this invention. This frame is provided witha more or less inclined slit 2 along its top longitudinally from end toend of the bars and of depth relatively aboutas shown, and adapted tothe use of ordinary brass pins as commonly used in a family,orspecially-made pins, if preferred. This slit necessarily is verynarrow,and such as a light rip-saw would make is sufficient. In fact, if theslit were closer than this it would serve still better my purpose,because the peculiar and distinguishing feature of my bar is that Idepend on the walls of the slit and not on the material in it to takeall the pull and strain on the pins. Hence a slit which wouldcomfortably admit a pin would be amply wide. However, the slits shown inFigs. 2 and 3 are somewhat wider than this, and yet so narrow that theslit serves all the purposes of the invention, and the fabric strip 4.,which is set edgewise into the slit in Fig. 2, serves simply to supportthe pin laterally and hold it upright in the slit. Otherwise the saidfabric has no purpose or function whatever, and it might be replacedwith any other soft or penetrable material which would hold the pinupright and be within the spirit of this part of theinvention. Fabricisused because it is convenient to insert and serves the pur pose well.

In Fig. 3 I show a modification in which a strip oftransversely-corrugated sheet metal 5 is substituted in the slit for thefabric in Fig. 2. The pin takes any one of the corru gations which holdit laterally, and the pull here, too, is against the side wall of thebar, as in the other views.

The side bars A are provided with hinges in the middle, so that they maybe folded, and these hinges 6 and the means for locking the partsrigidly when in use necessarily are removed from the inner edge of thebar, so as to avoid any metallic exposure of the curtains and theconsequent injury of the same by rust. Hence the hinges 6 are placed atthe bottom of the bars, and the bars are then made rigid and braced atthe joint by means of the overlapping angle-iron brace-piece O, which isfastened to one section of the side bars A and along the outer top edgethereof by screws and locked on the other section across the hinge 6 bya thumb-screw D, engaging in an open notch or recess 8 in the angle-ironbrace O. V hen the bar-sections are thus locked at the joint, they arepractically as rigid as if they were in a single piece and serve thesame purposes.

It Will be noticed that the slit 2 is located nearest the inner edge ofthe bar, and the inclination thereof is from the bottom outward, thusavoiding any'tendency of the curtain when stretched to pull the pins outor to get loose. A slit of this narrow kind has the further advantage ofproviding a straight line for setting the pins, so as to promote uniformstretching of the curtain. If a tapered pin, for example, of hard wood,were used, it would fasten itself sufficiently in the slit without otherlateral support.

lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A curtain-frame having bars with slits lengthwise on its top andinclined from bot tom to top from the inner side of the bar, said slitshaving their walls constructed to take all the pull on the pins forfastening the our tain, and containing material to hold the pinsupright, in combination with pins set into said slits and material,substantially as de scribed.

2. The frame-bars having walled slits longitudinally in their top andflexible material in said slits to hold the pins in operating positionand the said slits constructed to form bearings against the wallsthereof for the curtain-fastening pins, substantially as described.

3. The bars substantially as described, provided with longitudinalinclined slits and a bracing material of fabric set into said slitsbetween the walls thereof, said walls serving as bearings for the pins,substantially as described.

Witness my hand to the foregoing specification this 24th day of June,1896.

ROBERT S. CORLETT.

Witnesses:

H. T. Frsrrnn, R. B. MosER.

